


These Scars Will Bleed

by AeonTheDimensionalGirl



Series: I’ve Got You (You’re Safe Now) [30]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Era, Caring Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Confused Merlin (Merlin), Deviates From Canon, Episode: s03e02 The Tears of Uther Pendragon (Part II), First Kiss, Hurt Merlin (Merlin), Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Magic Revealed, Mutual Pining, Whumptober 2020, Worried Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:02:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27287617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AeonTheDimensionalGirl/pseuds/AeonTheDimensionalGirl
Summary: Arthur summons Merlin to his chambers with the intention of apologizing, but he doesn’t expect him to suddenly collapse.
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur, Merlin/Arthur Pendragon, Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Series: I’ve Got You (You’re Safe Now) [30]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1939345
Comments: 32
Kudos: 738





	These Scars Will Bleed

**Author's Note:**

> **PROMPT No 30. NOW WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?**  
>  **Wound Reveal** | Ignoring an Injury | Internal Organ Injury

Contrary to popular belief, Arthur pays a lot of attention to Merlin.

He may hide it behind off handed comments and insults, but he notices things.

Granted, Arthur is aware that he does not see some everything, as sometimes Merlin decides to add much more mystery onto his seemingly endless riddle of a person, but the point still stands.

Arthur pays attention.

He knows Merlin is incredibly smart and even has an education quite similar to the son of a nobleman, perhaps even better.

He knows Merlin hums and whistles strange tunes no one has heard by the string of an old lute Gaius has in his chambers, and even sings when he believes he’s alone.

He knows Merlin’s favorite color is purple, and that his favorite flower are forget-me-nots.

He knows Merlin is clumsy, but not _that_ clumsy.

And more importantly, Arthur knows that when his dear friend goes missing at the worst possible moment, things are about to go further south.

It’s like an omen to this point.

The Crown Prince searches everywhere, but he can’t find hair or hide of the raven boy in Camelot. Gaius hasn’t seen him, neither has Guinevere; Morgana simply shrugged and told him it was his servant, not hers. She says this a little too dismissive and unconcerned, almost cold, but the blond doesn’t have time to duel on that at the moment. Leon also admits to not having seen him.

And the worst part is that as much as Arthur would like to order a wide search, to put the castle upside down looking for Merlin… he can’t.

With the King indisposed thanks to his wits untangling and Essetir having declared war by crossing the border with all the army, the position of Regent has fallen upon the Prince’s shoulders and he has to put Camelot first.

Even if he doesn’t want to.

But it’s his home and it’s his duty to protect his people above all else, and unfortunately this means putting ‘Finding Merlin’ aside for the moment.

Arthur can only pray for the idiot to be safe.

* * *

Merlin has the gall to make a jest about dying when he finally decides to make an appearance.

Arthur had been driving himself mad with worry and stress that he just- explodes.

The blond simply scowls and berates the boy for the unrest he caused, and he’s way onto his rant of having to deal without his servant when he notices Merlin’s movements.

His dear friend’s body language is a little strange, almost like he’s sore-

“Where the hell were you, Merlin?” he asks, watching how the raven seems to almost stumble upon his feet.

“Dying” Merlin replies, voice tense.

The blond groans into his hand with frustration.

“Stop jesting!” Arthur yells, “It wasn’t funny the first time, and it isn’t funny the second, you idiot!”

Merlin simply stares at him, mouth agape.

And then, to the Crown Prince’s surprise, his face goes entirely blank.

“… You’ve not had your breakfast this morning, have you?” he finally answers, the only emotion on his face being betrayed by his pretty azure eyes, which shine with something akin to hurt.

Arthur is just about the answer him something along the lines of having Merlin for breakfast when the raven turns around to leave.

Guilt is quick to flood onto the blond, but his friend is already leaving through the servant’s entrance.

Before the door closes, Arthur swears to hear Merlin sniffle back a quiet cry.

* * *

The wrongfulness of his behavior towards Merlin haunts the Crown Prince almost constantly right after the battle against the essetirians.

Arthur is aware he should be apologizing for being too dismissive before the attempted invasion from Essetir, he even thought about doing so the night before the battle, but the words didn’t come to him.

Instead, Merlin did all the talking, telling him how much of a good king he was going to be, and all the while the Crown Prince can’t help but feel uncomfortable because his behavior to his most favorite subject has been nothing short of wrong.

It’s the promise of fighting to live another day to properly talk with Merlin what keeps Arthur going on the battle, even with the clear presence of sorcery when the skeletons from the crypts rose to help the men from Essetir.

So, when it’s all over, after the feast that celebrated Morgana’s returning to Camelot and her victory for helping defeat the skeleton army, the blond calls for Merlin to walk with him to his chambers.

They keep silent the entire way, a thousand different apology speeches going through Arthur’s head while the raven walks with clumsy steps beside him, looking tired.

“So. _Mer_ lin” Arthur says after they had entered his bedchambers and his friend has stroked the hearth, clapping his hands in an attempt to hide his nervousness, “I- er, wanted to talk to you”

“You did?” Merlin replied in a faint voice, followed soon by a hiss.

Frowning at the tone, the Crown Prince turned to look at the raven.

Merlin stood in front of the writing desk, grabbing the edge of the table, his normally glowing pale skin looking almost grey.

“Merlin?” Arthur asked in concern, putting down the belt he had taken off, “Are you alright?”

“I-” the raven turned to look at him, and further worry ran through the blond when he noticed the sweat beads on his forehead, breaths clearly labored, “Arthur- I-” he cuts himself off again as a sudden spasm goes through his body.

The Crown Prince is rooted to his spot in shock as Merlin locks eyes with him, stilling for a moment.

“I’m sorry- I-” he heaves, “I think I’m going to-”

And his eyes roll to the back of his head, body sagging.

And Arthur finally reacts.

“MERLIN-!”

He doesn’t get to Merlin in time.

His dear friend’s head practically rebounds after making contact with the stone floor.

For a moment, one brief, terrifying moment, Arthur believes Merlin to be dead.

“Oh gods” he says as he falls to his knees next to the raven, trying not to fall into panic as he doesn’t see him move, “Merlin- No, no-” he raises the boy’s head, careful with the newly opened cut on the side while his fingers shake as they look for a pulse-

And lets out a sigh of relief.

There it was, restless under the blond’s touch, beating fast; breathing shallow.

Arthur gathers him into his arms, doing so with every intention of picking the raven up and taking him to Gaius-

When he momentarily places his hand on Merlin’s back, and feels it sticky and damp. Confused, Arthur withdraws his palm-

And freezes.

Blood.

Almost in a daze, Arthur shakily rose Merlin’s tunic up to see what was the problem, and was thrown into further shock to see that the raven’s lower back was wrapped with blood-soaked bandages.

“Merlin?” he whispered.

What-

How-

When did this happened?

Confounded, the Crown Prince began to think back on Merlin’s behavior- and came to a horrifying realization.

_“I was dying”_

Had one of Cenred’s men gotten to him?

Tortured him for information about Camelot’s secrets?

Swallowing, Arthur looked down to the unconscious raven in his arms, cupping a pale cheek as he felt his eyes sting.

“I’m so sorry” the blond whispered, pressing his forehead with Merlin’s, “I’m so, so sorry, Merlin”

Steeling himself, Arthur gathered the raven onto his arms again, rising and walking towards his bed before gently placing Merlin onto the mattress, maneuvering him onto lying on his side.

He then searched for the spare bandages in the bedside cabinet, planning to replace the soaking one and press hard onto the wound for the moment before sending word to the guards to summon Gaius and also treat the cut on the head-

With his hands trembling again, the Crown Prince rose up the raven’s tunic once more, taking out the hidden dagger under his pillow to cut through the bandages, expecting to see a badly healing gash-

And staggered back in shock, breath hitching.

There was no sliced cut.

What instead greeted him was a large, grotesque puncture wound that was oozing dark blood in the middle while the edge possessed barely healed scarred skin around the edges.

It was a sting.

And a horribly familiar one.

Arthur had only seen it on the corpses of fallen men and women who accidentally crossed paths with a serket.

Everyone knows that the painful sting of a serket kills almost immediately-

Arthur felt his breath hitch as another realization hit him.

… Unless you happened to travel with someone with magic.

It’s why the Druids preferred to hide their camps around places known to have nests of the poisonous beasts around, because they were a natural defense and if one them got stung by the creatures, they could just heal it away with a spell.

And- And Merlin must have been alone.

Which meant-

It couldn’t only mean-

Merlin was a-

Merlin had magic.

The Crown Prince wanted to deny it, Merlin couldn’t be a sorcerer, he would _know_ -

But it also made so, _so_ _much sense_.

Like finding the missing piece of a puzzle, Arthur began to think back to all the events involving sorcery that Merlin had always been through with him and-

Dear gods.

And it was at that moment that Merlin decided to stir, whimpering as he tried to move onto his back-

“Don’t you dare do that” Arthur said, placing his hand on the raven’s shoulder to stop him from aggravating his injury, “Stay like that”

Merlin’s azure eyes opened by a slit, looking hazy.

“’R’th’r?” he mumbled with confusion, turning his head slightly to look at the Crown Prince, who kept his face blank, “W-Wa-?”

“You fainted like the girl you are” Arthur replied, voice tense, “Because you were stung by a fucking serket and lived to tell the tale” he narrowed his eyes as Merlin stilled under his touch, “Wonder how that happened”

The raven eyes had fully opened to this point, and they were a good imitation of a deer caught in a hunter’s trap.

“You know” he whispered.

“I know a lot of things about you, _Mer_ lin” Arthur said, crossing his arms and tilting his head, “You’re going to have to be more specific”

“Arthur-” the raven croaked, his pretty azure eyes tearing up.

“Merlin”

The boy hanged his head, lips quivering.

“I- I’m a-” his body shook, “I’m a sorcerer” he admitted in a quiet voice, “I have magic”

Arthur nodded.

“I figured” he said in a neutral tone before sighing in exhaustion, “Sit up”

Merlin blinked at him.

“What?” he mumbled, looking uncertain.

“Sit up” Arthur repeated, taking hold of the bandages by the edge of the bed, “You’re bleeding from both that sting and the bump you gave yourself after passing out”

“You-” the sorcerer shuddered, “You’re not going to clasp me in irons?” he asked, voice small.

“Would I have offered to treat your wounds if I had the intention of then chaining and taking you to my father?” Arthur asked, crossing his arms, “No”

Merlin let out a shaky breath.

“Why not?” he questioned, silent tears falling from his eyes. In close proximity, the Crown Prince can see flecks of gold on his eyes, like stars on the night sky-

“I’m what you hate”

Arthur felt like he was soaked with freezing cold water, staggering back in shock.

Yes, he is a little mad that Merlin has magic.

But-

The thought of Merlin- brave, loyal, Merlin, dead and gone was Arthur’s worst nightmare.

“I-” he shook his head, horrified, “No- no, Merlin- I- I don’t-” he hurriedly sat back on his bed next to the boy, taking the warlock by his hands, gripping them tightly, “I don’t hate you” he gulped, “I don’t hate magic”

“Don’t lie to me!” Merlin cried out, hurt clear in his eyes as he sat up, “You’re always repeating Uther’s words back at me!”

Arthur flinched, and let go of Merlin’s hands, shame filling him.

“I don’t hate magic” he repeated in a small voice, “I- I don’t trust it. But I don’t hate it” he turned to look at the hurt sorcerer in his mattress, “I don’t think it’s wise to hate something I don’t understand”

Merlin stared at him, eyes mistrustful.

The Crown Prince let out a shaky exhale.

“I swear I won’t hurt you, not reveal you to Father” he said, locking eyes with the scared sorcerer, “I swear it on Camelot. I swear it on my life”

The raven closed his eyes, taking in shuddering breaths before nodding.

“Alright” he whispered, opening his pretty azure eyes, “I believe you”

Arthur let out a breath of relief, raising the clean bandages in a silent question.

Merlin swallowed, but nodded again before turning his back to the blond, giving him view once again of his wound-

And nearly fell off his bed when the raven’s tunic completely disappeared and a bowl of water appeared next to him with a rag.

“Sorry” the sorcerer said, looking back at Arthur with nervous eyes, “I- You need to clean it” he explained.

“Right” the Crown Prince said, bobbing his head. Merlin had magic. This was normal now, “Right” he repeated, taking the rag and dabbing it in the clean water, “Right”

As gently as he could, he began to clean the dried blood around the puncture, sometimes pressing lightly onto the hole in an attempt to stop it from dripping; Merlin hissing and wincing on occasion, the blond momentarily pausing to softly grip his shoulder in silent apology.

(And no, he was not admiring the raven’s lean body while at it. He was just- merely in awe at the fact that Merlin was clearly built on hard work; all long lines, lean tissue and sinew. He actually had muscles!)

“So, what kind of sorcerer are you that you can heal a serket’s fatal poison, but can’t heal the residue wound?” Arthur asked with light exasperation and genuine curiously. Where there different types of healing spells? Had the raven simply not had the energy to do so?

“I didn’t heal myself” Merlin’s voice was quiet and subdued, “Someone else did. A- A family acquaintance, so to speak” he turned to look briefly at the blond, “And I’m not a sorcerer, I’m a warlock”

Arthur paused his ministrations.

“Is there a difference?” he inquired with bemusement, feeling a little lighter at Merlin’s small smile.

“A sorcerer studies and grows their magic. A warlock is born with magic” he revealed.

“That can't be possible” Arthur immediately replied, “No one is born with magic”

“And yet I did” the raven deadpanned, “Don’t be a prat about my birth”

“Sorry” the blond said, “It’s just- I’ve never heard of it”

“Well now you have” Merlin turned his head around, smiling as he raised his hand and waved, “Hello”

The blond laughed, placing down the now red rag on the pink water.

He sighed as he began wrapping the bandages, a thought bothering him.

“Merlin, why didn’t you say anything?” Arthur asked in a soft murmur, “I could have- I could have helped you”

The sorce- warlock seemed to deflate.

“You didn’t believe me” Merlin whispered, azure eyes bright with unshed tears, “I told you and you didn’t believe me, Arthur”

_“Where have you been?”_

_“What would you say if I told you I was dying?”_

Arthur felt disgusted with himself.

Merlin must have been squirming in agony, fighting for breath, weak and nauseated-

And the Crown Prince had scoffed at him.

“I’m sorry” Arthur finally said, feeling his eyes sting with shame, “I’m- I’m so sorry for my behavior” he rubbed the back of his neck, “It’s no excuse and I do not wish to force you to accept my apology but- I am so, so sorry, Merlin”

For a moment, the warlock was silent, simply looking at him with slight shock.

“I forgive you” Merlin finally murmured, smiling softly. The blond eagerly returned the smile before looking away, playing with his mother’s ring.

“I’m going to finish wrapping these on you” Arthur said, “And- I would like you to tell me what happened to you for you to get stung by a serket. And then-” Arthur looked away, feeling his face heat as he pondered whether or not say his next words.

“Then what?” Merlin inquired. The blond steeled himself.

“And then, you could- if it hurts too much- you could stay here for the night?” he suggested almost nervously.

The raven blinked.

“Careful, sire” Merlin said as a small smile formed on his lips, “That sounds as you care for me”

Arthur glared at him.

“Well of course I care for you!” he exclaimed, “You’re precious to me! I-” he covered his mouth in mortification.

Oh gods.

Mother, Maiden and Crone, did he really just-

“Arthur?” Merlin whispered, eyes wide.

“Forget I said that” the blond hurriedly begged.

“No fucking way” the warlock said, completely turning around to face him, eyes shining with something akin to wonder, “Because that sounded like you feel the same way I do towards you”

Arthur gaped.

“What?” he squeaked.

Merlin rolled his eyes at him.

“You’re precious to me, too” he replied, smiling-

And then leaned in to press his lips to Arthur’s, who stood still for a moment before eagerly returning the kiss.

“Are we going to be alright?” Merlin asked when they broke for air, looking nervous.

Arthur kissed his forehead.

“We will”

There was a lot to talk about, but yes.

They would be alright.

**Author's Note:**

> We need more fics of Arthur finding out Merlin was stung by a serket damn it. I’m still mad that this injury was pretty much brushed off in canon, considering that Kilgharrah himself told Merlin that he wasn’t fully recovered after being healed.


End file.
